BIDDEFORD — When Jeanne Handy took to the stage on Friday night, the twangy, traditional Arabic sounds of the Okbari Middle Eastern Music Ensemble were already swelling within the main performance hall of Biddeford City Theater.

Handy, going by the stage name “Jamileh,” glided into the spotlight, an already undulating figure; a swaying, rhythmic instrument whose invisible dance partner was the music itself. Performing a piece entitled “Raqsharqi,” hers was an Arabic belly dance, a sensual celebration of heritage in which every turn of her hips and gyration of her arms was a motion as graceful as a diver’s initial plunge under the surface of water.

Needless to say, it was a sight unique to a theater stage in a small Maine city. But that was the point of the Multicultural Dance Festival, a University of New England-sponsored event that brought together professional dancers spanning a wide swath of cultures rich in tradition.

Even the moniker “Jamileh” is a nod to the true Arabic name of Handy’s mother, who, when Handy was growing up in the suburbs of Boston, instilled in her an appreciation for the art forms of her ancestors.

“It is my heritage,” said Handy. “I grew up with it socially. It is a celebration of living sensually ”“ really being in your body no matter where you are in life. And you can’t age out of it. There really is something to honor at every stage of life.”

Handy, and the rest of the performers on the bill, came to the City Theater stage after the event was conceived last year by Donna Gaspar, the director of Multicultural Affairs & Diversity at UNE and a lover of culturally rich art forms. Funded by a grant through the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the event was one that Gaspar hoped would expand the horizons of its attendees.

“It will open their minds a little bit,” Gaspar mused before the show.

Rangapriya Rajashekar, a performer of an Indian style of dance called Bharatanatyam, hoped to change peoples’ minds rather than open them. Most Americans, she said, think that traditional Indian dance is exemplified by Bollywood films, those made-in-India setpieces for what she describes as “popular dancing.” Such dancing styles were given wide exposure in 2008 after the release of the surprise international hit film “Slumdog Millionaire,” which featured a Bollywood-style dance sequence during the end credits.

Traditional Indian dance, said Rajashekar, is far different.

“It’s not just in the face or the hands or the arms,” she said. “Everything is going at the same time. This is authentic Indian culture. I want people to understand the difference between fake and traditional.”

Decorated in jewelry that sparkled in the stage lights like breakwater, Rajashekar launched into a dance that was handed down through generations; ancestors performed the same precise facial expressions, the same sudden movements away from a constantly bobbing, thrumming rhythmic center.

And it was rhythm that defined the final performance of the evening, a blend of African drums and movement by the Akwaaba Traditional African Drum & Dance Ensemble, with featured dance artist             Theo Martey.

With rhythmic artists behind him pounding on taught drum skins with sticks and bare hands, Martey’s performance ”“ which he choreographed himself, in the traditional style ”“ told the story of a man who tries to gain the favor of a woman, and finally succeeds in earning her friendship. Dancing with a cane and smiling an infectious grin, Martey used humor, and a little audience participation, to endear himself to his crowd.

After his choreographed piece, Martey invited audience members to the stage for a loose, impromptu group dance to end the show.

“I enjoy working with people,” said Martey. “Maybe they feel like a part of a musical connection.”

When Martey made the call for adventurous attendees to join the Akwaaba Ensemble onstage, there was initial hesitation; heads turned to look at each other as if to say, “Us?”

But initial stirrings in the seats snowballed into action, and soon UNE students and community members were streaming down from the balcony, climbing onto the boards and mimicking moves from an Akwaaba dancer as Martey smiled and thanked the audience members still transfixed in their seats.

It was a celebratory end to what Handy hoped was an event both entertaining and educational. Many cultures are misunderstood or misrepresented in the media, she said; particularly her own Middle Eastern heritage, which she noted doesn’t always get the most positive press.

Hopefully, she said, people came away with a better understanding of the true nature of the diverse backgrounds represented Friday night.

“We’re all really happy to be able to share this art form,” she said. “Now we get a chance to show people what our culture is like. That’s how you get to know a people, is through their art.”

— Staff Writer Jeff Lagasse can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 319, or at jlagasse@journaltribune.com.